Nintendo to start selling expanded battery pack for Wii U GamePad

Battery that holds 70 percent more charge is a Japan-exclusive for now.

Back when we first reviewed the Wii U hardware, we called the touchscreen GamePad's three to five hours of battery life the system's "Achilles' heel." Nintendo is now taking some action to toughen up that weak heel, in Japan at least, by offering an optional expanded battery pack that extends the GamePad's functional life away from a charging outlet.

The new battery pack, which will retail for ¥3,150 (about $30) when it hits Japan on July 25, extends the standard battery capacity of 1500 mAh to 2550 mAh, providing what Nintendo says is five to eight hours of juice. The battery is the same physical size as the built-in battery included with the standard Wii U GamePad, and it requires a quick installation with a Phillips head screwdriver.

There's no word yet on whether this official expanded battery will be available in the US or other regions or whether an imported Japanese version will work on Wii U GamePads designed for other countries. For those who don't want to wait, Nyko currently offers an internal Wii U PowerPak rated at 4000 mAh and a bulky clip-on external battery extender that claims to double the GamePad's battery life (and doubles as a handy kickstand for the touchscreen).

Nintendo also announced today an improved, quick-charging battery for the original Wii with a cradle that claims to offer 13 hours of play on just a 90-minute charge and a new white version of the "Deluxe" Wii U with 32GB of built-in storage. Both products are also only confirmed for Japan for now.

Promoted Comments

As stated above, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth that they released the system with what they obviously thought was an undersized battery, then mere months later are releasing what I think most people would agree should be the standard.

I always thought of Nintendo as the least "nickel and dime" of the gaming companies (as far as dlc, online, etc...certainly not remakes...heh). Just sort of smacks of that for me anyway.

1436 posts | registered Mar 28, 2001

Kyle Orland
Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in the Washington, DC area. Emailkyle.orland@arstechnica.com//Twitter@KyleOrl

33 Reader Comments

Has anyone seen a Wii U add lately? I've seen several ads for Destiny, from the makers of Halo and publisher of Call of Duty. No Wii U ads. Odd, given the very sluggish sales for Wii U. Some of which I think has to do with very poor marketing. What exactly is Nintendo waiting on to get the ball rolling? Nintendo can't afford to lose the North American market. It's a big game loving marketplace.

Has anyone seen a Wii U add lately? I've seen several ads for Destiny, from the makers of Halo and publisher of Call of Duty. No Wii U ads. Odd, given the very sluggish sales for Wii U. Some of which I think has to do with very poor marketing. What exactly is Nintendo waiting on to get the ball rolling? Nintendo can't afford to lose the North American market. It's a big game loving marketplace.

They used to kill in advertisement, especially in their GBA era.

They also need something to advertise, and I don't think it really has a (pardon me) killer app right now. If they just released an HD Pokemon game all would be solved...

A few friends were over the other night to play Deadlands D20 and we took a break. I started playing with my Wii U pad and one of them asked if the pad itself was the Wii U. These are people who actually play stuff like Halo and Mortal Kombat. I was dumbfounded how anyone could think the controller was the system, but then I remember that I haven't seen a single ad for the Wii U.

Has anyone seen a Wii U add lately? I've seen several ads for Destiny, from the makers of Halo and publisher of Call of Duty. No Wii U ads. Odd, given the very sluggish sales for Wii U. Some of which I think has to do with very poor marketing. What exactly is Nintendo waiting on to get the ball rolling? Nintendo can't afford to lose the North American market. It's a big game loving marketplace.

I think the big push on advertising will come post E3 when it seems a significant amount of games will be announced/shown in playable form. While they all won't be coming out this year there should be enough doing so to push tv spots and other forms of advertising. I think Nintendo tend to use advertising spots to promote the exclusives rather than cross platform.

This next generation has been received a bit tentatively all round, from the Wii U launch and the PS4 and Xbox One announcements. All seem to be each doing something enough wrong (or unclear) to stop any being a runaway hit. I'm intrigued most now for the pricing strategies for the other two.

Has anyone seen a Wii U add lately? I've seen several ads for Destiny, from the makers of Halo and publisher of Call of Duty. No Wii U ads. Odd, given the very sluggish sales for Wii U. Some of which I think has to do with very poor marketing. What exactly is Nintendo waiting on to get the ball rolling? Nintendo can't afford to lose the North American market. It's a big game loving marketplace.

TV seems empty, but they've pushed HARD on Hulu ads. I get a Wii U Hulu ad just about 1/2 of the breaks. They're all centered around different families playing on a system, with an emphasis on young kids+their parents enjoying the system together as a family.

Has anyone seen a Wii U add lately? I've seen several ads for Destiny, from the makers of Halo and publisher of Call of Duty. No Wii U ads. Odd, given the very sluggish sales for Wii U. Some of which I think has to do with very poor marketing. What exactly is Nintendo waiting on to get the ball rolling? Nintendo can't afford to lose the North American market. It's a big game loving marketplace.

They're probably going to stay silent for a bit because trying to get any press right now while Microsoft and Sony are doing their thing would probably end up hurting them more (unless you agree with the notion that Nintendo and Sony can and should exploit the Xbox One's poor reception).

The biggest complaint with the Wii U right now is that it doesn't have games, and this isn't going to change for at least several months. They're still doing Nintendo Directs, they're still going to be doing stuff during E3, but they aren't going to make a big push for the system until they have more games to show for it, which I think is a good idea.

Since the Wii U pad's battery bay has a lot of extra room when fitted with the stock battery, replacements that fill the compartment and offer more mAh were a given. But I wouldn't have expected Nyko's to be both cheaper and last longer than Nintendo's.

You know what I can't understand for the life of me that the Wii U gamepad doesn't have?

A standby button for power conservation

Seriously, having this pad is fantastic for scrubbing through TV shows and movies on Netflix and being able to read the description while lounging on my couch looking at my 50' LCD; but the battery life is a paltry 3 hours with brightness at minimum and "power saving" mode on.

To me I think Nintendo needs to prioritize making a software patch that adds this feature and clearly explains how to use it for layman users (which Nintendo is very good at doing IMO)

Edit: I should clarify that I was referring to a dedicated button, and not having to fiddle with controller settings every time you want to turn the screen off.

Now who here saw that massively oversized space for the battery in the Wii U teardowns at iFixit and didn't see this coming?

didn't see it, but the idea of selling a game pad with meager battery life only to release an add on doesn't sit well with me.

Like this isn't the same old Nintendo strategy of releasing add-ons and console revisions ad nauseum. I just think it's funny that the heaviest controller in the current console gen (fighting game arcade sticks nonwithstanding) is about to get heavier.

Is this part of Nintendo's grand strategy to get us all in shape? First calisthenics with the Wii, now weightlifting with the Wii U?

As stated above, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth that they released the system with what they obviously thought was an undersized battery, then mere months later are releasing what I think most people would agree should be the standard.

I always thought of Nintendo as the least "nickel and dime" of the gaming companies (as far as dlc, online, etc...certainly not remakes...heh). Just sort of smacks of that for me anyway.

As stated above, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth that they released the system with what they obviously thought was an undersized battery, then mere months later are releasing what I think most people would agree should be the standard.

I always thought of Nintendo as the least "nickel and dime" of the gaming companies (as far as dlc, online, etc...certainly not remakes...heh). Just sort of smacks of that for me anyway.

Or, you know, it could be because people INSISTED it be under $300 or else it was a no-go. Do people realize how many corners had to be cut in order to fit that price tag? It's likely Sony and Microsoft will cut just as many corners in an attempt to cut costs.

Like this isn't the same old Nintendo strategy of releasing add-ons and console revisions ad nauseum. I just think it's funny that the heaviest controller in the current console gen (fighting game arcade sticks nonwithstanding) is about to get heavier.

Is this part of Nintendo's grand strategy to get us all in shape? First calisthenics with the Wii, now weightlifting with the Wii U?

I think you missed the part that says this new battery is the same size as the old one. Also, the Wii U game pad actually feels pretty light, considering what it is. Not to mention it's really comfortable, too.

Now who here saw that massively oversized space for the battery in the Wii U teardowns at iFixit and didn't see this coming?

didn't see it, but the idea of selling a game pad with meager battery life only to release an add on doesn't sit well with me.

Like this isn't the same old Nintendo strategy of releasing add-ons and console revisions ad nauseum. I just think it's funny that the heaviest controller in the current console gen (fighting game arcade sticks nonwithstanding) is about to get heavier.

Is this part of Nintendo's grand strategy to get us all in shape? First calisthenics with the Wii, now weightlifting with the Wii U?

If you can't lift a Wii U gamepad, it may behoove you to get into shape. Dost thou even hoist?

I expect they'll soon include this new battery pack in the gamepad you get with the console, just like they did with the motion plus and the later batches of wiimotes. If that's the case, it's certainly a good choice for them to make this shift as early as possible, before the big blockbusters are released and the console starts selling well.

I get the feeling Nintendo was taking a Japan/ Asia-centric approach, intentionally or otherwise. Compared with the US, smaller rooms, smaller TVs and shorter gaming sessions are the norm -- the latter applying especially to "non-core" games.

Handheld games fare a bit better here too because the amount of time people spend in public transport, where they don't immediately need to dedicated their attention or eyes or hands to anything in particular, is a lot higher. (trains are nice)

That's not to say it wasn't a misstep, only to say that feels like a misstep in line with a lot Nintendo's and other Japanese companies' missteps.

As stated above, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth that they released the system with what they obviously thought was an undersized battery, then mere months later are releasing what I think most people would agree should be the standard.

I always thought of Nintendo as the least "nickel and dime" of the gaming companies (as far as dlc, online, etc...certainly not remakes...heh). Just sort of smacks of that for me anyway.

They have a budget to work in and trade off had to be made. the weak battery is an acceptable trade off considering what the console can do....

I play with my controller plugged in so battery life is not really a concern.

As stated above, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth that they released the system with what they obviously thought was an undersized battery, then mere months later are releasing what I think most people would agree should be the standard.

I always thought of Nintendo as the least "nickel and dime" of the gaming companies (as far as dlc, online, etc...certainly not remakes...heh). Just sort of smacks of that for me anyway.

Or, you know, it could be because people INSISTED it be under $300 or else it was a no-go. Do people realize how many corners had to be cut in order to fit that price tag? It's likely Sony and Microsoft will cut just as many corners in an attempt to cut costs.

If you demand low prices, expect low quality. You reap what you sow.

Are you kidding? While iSuppli never did an official count, I remember reading an article way back about the console costing $180 to produce. I mean the wii U is seriously underpowered. Nintendo used the cheapest components they could find. It's also very small, which tends to decrease raw materials costs. The battery thing is just Nicole and diming.

As stated above, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth that they released the system with what they obviously thought was an undersized battery, then mere months later are releasing what I think most people would agree should be the standard.

I always thought of Nintendo as the least "nickel and dime" of the gaming companies (as far as dlc, online, etc...certainly not remakes...heh). Just sort of smacks of that for me anyway.

Or, you know, it could be because people INSISTED it be under $300 or else it was a no-go. Do people realize how many corners had to be cut in order to fit that price tag? It's likely Sony and Microsoft will cut just as many corners in an attempt to cut costs.

If you demand low prices, expect low quality. You reap what you sow.

Are you kidding? While iSuppli never did an official count, I remember reading an article way back about the console costing $180 to produce. I mean the wii U is seriously underpowered. Nintendo used the cheapest components they could find. It's also very small, which tends to decrease raw materials costs. The battery thing is just Nicole and diming.

I also read an article way back about how they basically aren't making any money on the console. There's more to the cost of a console than the price to produce it.

^ Traditionally Nintendo tries to make profit on their hardware. This time thay are indeed selling the console at a loss but that is offset by the sale of just ONE software title. Since the Wii U appears to have about a 4:1 attach rate, the system is indeed turning a per unit profit.

As stated above, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth that they released the system with what they obviously thought was an undersized battery, then mere months later are releasing what I think most people would agree should be the standard.

Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.

Nintendo's intention with the Wii U gamepad was clear. It was to be an all-singing, all dancing media control device, which would do everything from control your TV to allow you to play games in other rooms. It's clear that it was intended to become the primary remote for the entire home theatre.

Of course, that didn't work, not least because it needs charging all the time if you use it in this way. The expanded battery is one step towards making their original plan a reality. However, the slow responsiveness, of the UI, resistive touchscreen, and size of the gamepad mean that they would need to do a whole lot more to make their original plan a reality.